


Bring Your Appetite!

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Family Dinners, Gen, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24358675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Winter holidays are so much better with family- even if that family is only partially blood relations.
Relationships: Chris "Madam Christmas" Mustang & Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35
Collections: Moms Made Fullmetal Week 2020





	Bring Your Appetite!

**Author's Note:**

> DAY 1: FAMILY

The bar closed for business the night before and won’t open up again until tomorrow. The tables have all been moved around, making one long table down the middle of the room. Four centerpieces dot the length of them, and mismatched china marks a reserved spot for an honored guest.

Chris puts her hands on her hips, nodding. “Looks pretty good.” She turns to Vanessa. “When’s dinner coming?”

Vanessa, dressed in casual clothes and wearing an apron, wipes her brow with the back of her hand. “Probably about an hour. Madelyn said the delivery man already verified the address with her yesterday.”

“Good.” Chris looks at the clock on the wall. “Roy should be here soon.”

She excuses herself to go get changed and freshen up. She climbs the narrow staircase that leads to the brothel upstairs and enters her room. A toned down dress hangs on a velvet hanger from a nail on the wall, with matching shoes sitting below it on the floor. They’re celebrating Yule tonight with a traditional family dinner, and she certainly doesn’t want to be sitting at the dinner table looking as if she’s trying to win a client.

Carefully, she exchanges her ostentatious gold collar and ridiculously oversized ‘pearl’ necklace for something more appropriate, then reapplies her makeup in more neutral tones rather than her favored bright pinks and purples. Lastly, she pulls her dyed black hair into a bun.

Chris sighs. “I look like a grandma.” She takes her hair back down and wipes off her nude lipstick and goes with the red one instead. Feeling better about her holiday look, she puts her coat back on (she coordinated her dress to match it, after all) and goes downstairs to put the final touches on their get-together.

As she descends the stairs, she hears Roy’s voice and something inside her seems to warm up. When she finally catches sight of him, she feels her mouth tug up into a grin.

Standing beside him, dressed in a lovely red sweater and modest skirt and boots, is Riza. Her hair looks as if she’d tried to put some curl in it, but it didn’t stay. Her eyes reflect the smile on her face, and she looks as at ease as any of Chris’ girls. 

“I’m so glad you came, Elizabeth!” she calls, arms outstretched for a hug as she approaches them. When Riza squeezes her tightly, Chris closes her eyes. “I was wondering if you’d be able to make it!”

Riza kisses her cheek. “I don’t recall ever going to any family dinners as a child, and I certainly never went to one when I was older. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Chris pulls back and pats Riza’s cheek. “Honey, you're always family here. I’d be offended if you thought otherwise.” Riza thanks her for her kindness and she moves to her nephew, embracing him as tightly as she did Riza.

“When are you going to put a ring on this poor girl’s hand? You’re killing me!”

“C’mon on,” Roy groans. “You know why I can’t yet!”

Chris smooches his cheek and ruffles his hair. “You and your damn goals. What about my dreams of grandchildren?”

Roy rolls his eyes and she and Riza both chuckle at him. As she leads them to the bar to get started with a glass of wine and a cocktail, Vanessa emerges with Madelyn, Jerrica and the others, and while they wait for the delivery of their catered dinner, Chris turns the radio to a festive station and sets the volume at just the right level.

At last dinner arrives- a lovely baked turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans, savory stuffing, sauteed zucchini and squash, buttery rolls, and two large pies for dessert. Everyone gathers around a buffet table and makes a plate, then sits down for their annual once-a-year meal.

Chris raises her wine glass. “A toast to our successes, our learned lessons, and our friends. May we make the best of the next year and always be as close to each other as we are now.” Everyone drinks to her words, then digs into their meals with conversation and camaraderie.

Once they’re finished eating, leftovers are packed up and take-home plates are made, then they play an obnoxious and vulgar game of charades. Mostly it’s to embarrass Roy, but also to backhandedly test Riza’s carnal knowledge. Turns out her future daughter-in-law is fairly savvy about bedroom activities, but that doesn’t stop Roy’s ears from turning beet red.

Eventually, the family gathering winds down. Madame offers to let Roy and Riza stay in her room for the night, since she doesn’t get clients much anymore and her room is the nicest. They decline, but Riza does take a raincheck on the offer, much to Roy’s delight. She loads them up with bags of leftovers and sends them on their way with more hugs and kisses, promising to do whatever she can to help Roy get to the Fuhrer’s seat as quickly as possible.

Afterward, once she and the girls have put the furniture back the way it should be and everyone else is in bed, Chris sits at the bar, smoking a well-deserved cigarette and sipping at a tumbler of scotch while gazing at a picture of her brother, right after he’d married Li-Ling and Roy hadn’t yet been born.

“I hope I’m doing right by you,” she murmurs to the image of family long dead. “He’s your son, but he’s _my_ boy. I’ve done the best I can, considering the circumstances.”

The radio plays on as she speaks aloud to no one, catching her brother up on all of Roy’s exploits and adventures, updating them on his relationship with ‘Elizabeth’, and otherwise relishing the peace of the night without the sounds of sex floating down the stairs. Her rag-tag group of refined and intelligent women that she hosts are as dear to her as if she’d borne them herself, and she's glad they get a night away from their work as well. 

“Family doesn’t have to be blood,” she says before finishing her drink. “I wouldn’t trade any of ‘em for anything in the world.”

Chris slips her dirty glass under the bar into the washtub, then turns the radio off before flipping the light switch. Another Yule has come and gone, this time with an added member to the family with Riza’s appearance. She laughs to herself. 

“Maybe next year, they’ll bring a grandbaby!”


End file.
